


I dreamed a dream

by Shae_la_Hyene



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: M/M, No Smut, Notre-Dame de Paris, because why not, dream - Freeform, ghost ?, magical objects, that's already a lot of explanation for a dream, villain organization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 09:25:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18870388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shae_la_Hyene/pseuds/Shae_la_Hyene
Summary: I woke up this morning remembering a dream. It happens often, but this one had Damen and Laurent in it, so I decided to write it and post it.It doesn't really make sense. Dreams rarely do.But if you have questions on weird details like "how grey ?" I will gladly answer as well as I can.





	I dreamed a dream

Notre-Dame was no longer herself. Some mad man tied up what was left of her bone structure to the side of a modern building ages ago.  
But Damen still remembered her. Remembered her better days, and the beauty she spread around her.  
He remembered who he met there, an eternity ago too. Like it was in a dream, but he had to take that risk.  
There wasn’t a lot of people left who found beauty within her, but Damen would forever look at the old cathedral with love. It was his lover, his home. And will forever be, even if there was only a pile of stones to worship.  
But the lack of popularity was a problem, that day. Access was no longer easy, and no longer unnoticed.  
Damen was no idiot. He knew lying and acting wasn’t his strong suit. So he tried to worm is way in. Entering the supporting building was ridiculously easy. Even as early in the morning it was. Seemed like Mad Man didn’t care much about who could come and steal whatever there could be to be stolen there. But Damen knew the second phase wouldn’t be that easy.  
Notre-Dame was still famous, and was still attracting a few sparse tourists, and was still protected, her remains could be stolen and sold for some money. Probably other mad men would pay for her to be dismantled. The idea left a sour taste in Damen’s mouth.  
Damen didn’t stopped at the floor which was linked to Notre-Dame’s entrance, but continued a couple floors more. He wanted to stealth his way down from a window or whatever he’d find. Getting out of the window proved to be possible, getting on the roof manageable. But the roof in itself was too high. Jumping would be dangerous, and the rotten and burnt beams would not take a grown man’s weight falling from that far. And definitely not silently.  
She was more important than not being discovered. She was always more important.  
Damen smiled bitterly at that. He’d have to take the risk, she would always be worth the risk.  
Walking to the edge of the roof and sliding down while gripping the old stones, Damen found himself very thankful to the intense training he pushed on himself during all those years. Behind him, beneath him, it was the void and a twenty floors fall.  
When he finally got back inside from a broken window, he heard voices. One voice, steady and constant and falsely enthusiast, and whispers. A tour guide.  
Rather than hiding, waiting for them to leave, he took it as an opportunity to progress inside the cathedral without any risk of being caught. By security. Or by other ill-intentioned people. But the tour wasn’t going far, not far enough.  
He tried to ask how to access the towers. The guide’s answer was borderline robotic.  
The towers visits only start at 10, and will be monitored by someone else.  
Damen groaned slightly at that. It was a time waste. He couldn’t really afford it. If he was caught before that… But it was his best option and decided to wait, in front of the door, for some yawning bored-looking student to fumble through his keys to open it. There was a couple other visitors waiting behind Damen, by ten. But not enough for him to be under a constant watch.  
Quickly diverging from the usual visit stairs, he slid in a shadow to grip a beam, pulling on his strong arms to sit on it, and grabbed another. And another. Until he found the old room he lost himself, years ago, when he was no more than a crying child who lost his mother.  
He always remembered who he met there, but the more time passed, the more doubt he had : was he a dream, and would he even be there, years after.  
But he was there. As young as he remembered him.  
As grey and unsubstantial as he remembered him. He wasn’t a dream. He looked more like… a memory. The ghost of the youth. The only trace of a child that was there, centuries ago.  
"I was waiting for you."  
Damen smiled. It was like no time had passed since they met. Lifting himself to sit beside the ghost-child on the skeleton structure, he asked :  
"How did you know I’d come back today. Do you watch everything through magical eyes ?"  
The child laughed. A very mature laugh, full of cynism.  
"Of course not ! I never leave here."  
He tilted his head, watching Damen. His eyes looked too old for a child’s body.  
"No. I just knew you’d come back."  
Damen grinned. "You were right. I came back."  
He sighed. "I missed you."  
Again the too old laugh. "You saw me once, two decades ago, and for all this time you were half sure I was an hallucination. How could you have missed me ?"  
Damen’s brow furrowed. "I liked you. You were nice, and you were with me when I was lost and alone. I thought we were friends."  
The ghost smiled. "Then maybe we were. I liked you. I still do, I think. It was why I offered you what I rarely offer. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it ? You didn’t came to play with your friend. You came to take what I offered you last time, and that you refused."  
Damen offered a sad smile. He didn’t wanted to pretend, only to hurt the other.  
"Yes."  
Another head tilt. "And why should I give it to you now ? Maybe the offer is no longer open. Why do you want it ?"  
Damen sighed. "A lot of people are looking for it. I know where it is, here with you. And since I can’t lie to save my life, I’m not sure I can keep that secret, and them from you. Maybe I even lead them here only by coming. If it’s not me, it will be them, it’s a matter of time. They wouldn’t ask, they wouldn’t be your friend. They’d take, and they’d hurt you."  
He brushed a knuckle on the soft cheek of the child. It was warm.  
"I don’t want you to be hurt."  
His friend offered a wicked smile in return.  
"Do you really think I can’t defend myself ?"  
"Well I’m sure you can. I have no idea how old you are. But you probably had to fight before. But wouldn’t it be better if we’d avoid to answer that question ?"  
This time he got a soft smile as an answer. If the skin of his face wasn’t grey, he probably would have blushed.  
"What would you do with it ?"  
Damen smiled, wide.  
"I don’t know. What does it do ?"  
At that, the child laughed, hard, his arms hugging his ribs, his head thrown back.  
"I have no idea" he said when he managed to calm down. "I’m no alchemist."  
"You had that stone for a long time. Didn’t you ever wonder ?"  
"I never had to. The Philosopher’s stone is nothing for me than a stone. A stone a lot of people want, who often end up causing their death, and which will always end up back in my hands again. I have no use for it."  
Damen was surprised. "Isn’t is what keeps you alive ?"  
The ghost shook his head. He looked around him, through the holes in the roof.  
"No. I live in the cathedral. I live because she lives."  
Damen was silent for a moment.  
"Will you die if she dies."  
The child snapped his head back to him, anger in his eyes.  
"Notre-Dame will never die. Even if I lose her stones, even if I lose her beams, Notre-Dame will always live."  
He pressed a hand, hard, against Damen’s chest.  
"Here. And in everyone else’s heart. Notre-Dame will never die."  
Damen smiled again.  
"Alright. That left the question of what use there is of this stone. If the rumors are true, I think I could use some gold. But I have no idea how to find some that much lead !"  
The ghost laughed, seemingly peaceful again.  
"No immortality ?"  
Damen felt his mood somber.  
"No one should ever be immortal. It’s a curse. You loose everyone you love, the world you grew up into. Life is only precious when we know it’s going to end."  
When he turned his head back to him, the child looked him with tenderness.  
"You knew that too, back then. That’s one of the reasons I offered."  
He reached in a fold of his tunic, getting out a crimson uneven rock. He extended his arm toward Damen. He shyly took the stone from the little hand. It was heavier than he thought.  
"Thank you." He placed it in his pocket, then looked back to the child’s face.  
"Will you get it back someday ?"  
"Of course" he answered with a chuckle. "The stone always come back to me."  
Damen smiled again, and made to leave.  
"If I survive all of that, I’ll come back to see you. I already miss you, my friend."  
The way back was easier, if more public. It was unrealistic to think to go back the way he got in, so he settled on leaving the visitor’s way.  
He quickly got back home to grab his backpack before heading to school. His parents barely acknowledged him.  
All the way, a feeling in the back of his neck signaled him he was being followed but he couldn’t see anyone, or do anything about it. If someone was clever enough to know he’d come here to take the stone, they already knew who he was, and where he lived.  
And where he was going now.  
The school building was huge, white and blank, with thousands of nameless white stairs. It was so easy to get lost in it. But only a part of it was used for the school. The rest was left for uses the school students could only imagine.  
Damen left his school bag in his locker, the stone still in his pocket, and prepared to go to his first class when he spotted one of his followers, only from the corner of his eyes. When he turned to see more clearly, he was gone. He decided to stop by the bathroom, and, hiding in a stall, proceed to hide the stone close to his chest, strapped there securely with a band he always kept in his locked in case of injury during sport practice.  
His class will have to go on without him. He had to face that problem first.  
He left the bathroom, the stone a slight bump against his chest, here only if you look for it, hidden underneath his clothes.  
Silently, he took corridor after shadowed corner, a random and unthought path, trying to lose his pursuers. He found himself in a never-ending suite of white stairs, all looking the same. He didn’t know how high he had already climbed, but there was still no exit door and the school parts he knew were already far behind. He was lost. But it was not the biggest problem : with no turn or doors to confuse his pursuers, they would end up catching on him sooner or later.  
When he finally saw a door in the wall next to the stairs, wood brown contrasting on the white stairs, the sounds of feet stepping on the stairs below him were getting closer, dangerously closer. He sighed in relief, until the door opened quickly to show a young handsome man who gripped him and pulled him through the door, then closed it as quickly as everything else, a finger on his mouth to ask Damen to stay quiet.  
He was maybe thirty-five or forty. He had calm blue eyes and glossy chestnut hair. He looked… nice. Gentle. Too nice to be one of the men who wanted to kill him, downstairs.  
"You’re lucky I’ve got you before them. One of them swore he’d skin you alive. And from what I know of him, he would have. And slowly."  
Damen didn’t answer, too struck by the fast start of their encounter.  
"Where are they ?"  
Damen was confused. "Where are they ?" he repeated, dumbly.  
Handsome looked annoyed at his lack of cooperation.  
"The Graal ! And the Mirror ! And the Stone ! Where are they ?"  
"I have no idea what you’re talking about !" Damen must have looked as sincere as he was, because Handsome loosen his hold on him.  
"You don’t have them ?"  
"I don’t know about any mirror and.. the Graal ? Isn’t that supposed to be a fairy tale ?"  
He didn’t talk about the Stone. It was now a familiar weight against his skin, and he didn’t trust himself to lie properly if he talked about it.  
Handsome laughed, a cynical short sound.  
"They are not. And they have been stolen. And we need all three. The little shit that stole them is trying to prevent our plans. But it’s stupid and it will only get them killed."  
Damen gulped. "Us" not "them". This wasn’t a good start.  
Handsome finally seemed to focus his attention back to him after his little villain monologue.  
« Wait. Why are you running from us then ? »  
Damen fumbled with words. « I don’t know. I was followed. I don’t like being followed."  
That was a crappy answer. It was clear Handsome didn’t buy it.  
"I know you. You’re the one we had orders to follow after you appeared in Notre-Dame, just like Magic. You thought you were discreet, didn’t you ? Well you were not. What were you doing there ?"  
He pushed Damen against the door again. He was strong, and looked like he had a soldier’s training. But Damen was stronger. He’d win if it ended up in a fight.  
He settled for a half-truth.  
"Visiting a friend."  
Handsome threw him a "I’m no fool" look. "A friend that couldn’t meet you in a more public, less suspicious place ?"  
"A friend that loves Notre-Dame as his mother. I wanted to meet him here because of that."  
And because he couldn’t leave.  
Handsome shove him violently against the door again. « You’re lying ! » he said through gritted teeth.  
It was enough for Damen. He pushed back, twisting his opponent’s arm from him and behind his back. He knew that was painful, but Handsome’s soldier training proved to be flawless when it didn’t draw a groan from him.  
"I never lie" whispered Damen, before hitting, hard, against the thickest part of Handsome’s skull. It was the part that couldn’t break from just a fist, but that would knock him for a while.  
He then rushed through the corridor extending behind the door. Finally, and escape from the stair hell. Soon he passed several crossed path, enough to force his pursuers to split. He chose to always go forth, except for once where he turned right, as not to be seen from the door. A most sinous man would have turned several time to lose them, so they’d probably expect anything else than a straight route. He heard steps from ahead and started to panic. Those were not the ones that followed him so far. He looked around him to find a hiding place and found a shadowed alcove, and rushed there just in time to hear the men running past him.  
Past them.  
There was another man in the alcove, a finger on his lips.  
If he was hiding from the same men, then they were probably on the same side. In a way. My enemy’s enemy is my friend, right ? The other man seemed to have reached the same conclusion, as he didn’t look frightened of being found by Damen.  
When the steps were too far to be heard anymore, they both relaxed, and the other man let out a laugh. It was a marvelous sound, one he’d be happy to hear for the rest of his life. Like pure joy and happiness. It was beautiful.  
Illumination finally struck Damen.  
"You are the one they’re looking for ! The one who stole the Graal and the Mirror from them !"  
The man smiled. « And how do you know I didn’t steal the Stone too ? »  
Damen didn’t answer.  
Even in the dark he knew his face was giving everything away.  
The man laughed again. It was almost worth being caught.  
"How did you even survive thus far being such an awful liar ?"  
Damen crossed his arm around his chest. "Muscles" was all he said.  
The man nodded, a tiny smile on his lips, as to say "fair point".  
"So where is it ?" the man asked.  
Damen furrowed his brow. The man laughed again.  
"Fine don’t tell me ! Why did you stole it, by the way ?"  
Damen start to feel unnerved.  
"I didn’t stole it. Its true owner gave it to me and I promised I’d protect it."  
The man tilted his head, not believing him. He looked like he was trying to figure out how it could be a lie as Damen looked absolutely honest.  
"And you ? Why did you stole them ?"  
The man didn’t deny the stealing part. Damen appreciated this.  
"To prevent them from having all three. They were planning something with it. I don’t know precisely what, but it seemed huge" he answered.  
"And it seemed bad" he added in a whisper.  
Damen decided it was enough for his trust, in limited supply.  
"Fine for me. What’s your name ?"  
The man laughed again, a disbelieving expression on his face.  
"You really don’t expect me to give you informations like this, do you ?"  
Damen rolled his eyes.  
"My name is Damen. It’s just a presentation. I’m sure they already know your name, and mine too. There is not much to lose in that."  
The man was silent for a moment, visibly uncertain of what was the most clever thing to do.  
"Laurent."  
Damen smiled. "Well, glad to meet you Laurent. Do you have any idea how to escape this fucking labyrinth ?"  
The man, Laurent, gave him a dubious smile. "What ? Are we a team now ?"  
"I don’t know, are we ? I guess we could, we’re both trying to escape the same men."  
Laurent looked at him with a puzzled look again.  
"Maybe we can. I could use your muscles. And you seems lost enough that I know you didn’t memorize a map of this place. So you could use my knowledge. Am I right ?"  
Damen evaded his eyes. "Well I didn’t plan anything, I didn’t think I’d be escaping some villain organization behind my school, today."  
Laurent laughed again. "You’re really dumb, aren’t you ?"  
Damen got fed on this man’s awful character. He pushed against the wall he was leaning on and went to leave the alcove.  
"Well in that case me and my muscle will just take another direction. It wouldn’t have been really clever to have all three artefacts together anyway."  
"Wait !" Laurent called. "You have it on you ?!" he sounded indignant.  
"Yeah of course ! I couldn’t take the risk of them finding it without me defending it ! Why do you think I took it from its hidden place in the first place ?"  
Laurent didn’t answer. "What did you do with yours ?"  
Obviously not strapping it to his chest, there was no bump on his lean silhouette. It could have been hard to hide a cup and a mirror there.  
"I hide them" he answered slowly, quietly.  
"I guess you think yourself clever. But what will you do if they find it and you’re there ?"  
Laurent gritted his teeth. "They won’t find it."  
"Of course, because they’re so well hidden behind that stone. And there is of course no magical or even scientific way to find powerful artefacts for men that are looking for it for God knows how long ! Now you and I are a team. We’re going to find your cleverly hidden mirror and cup and then we’ll split to make sure the three are not together for too long. And that’s not a question."  
Laurent’s face was closed with annoyance, but he knew it was the best option. He nodded.  
He left the shadows to shake the hand Damen was offering and his whole body and face were finally visible in the light.  
Damen’s breath stuck in his throat. He was stunning. More beautiful than any man, or any woman he ever saw. He was so beautiful he could have been unreal. But not in the gray ghosty appearance of his friend in Notre-Dame.  
"Are you going to shake my hand or are you going to stand like that with your mouth open, for the rest of the day ?"  
Damen shrugged. "Yeah of course." He shook the hand of his newly partner in crime.  
"So. Laurent. Where are we going ?"  
Laurent passed him and walked fast, not waiting to see if Damen was following. The corridors were blissfully empty, whoever was looking for them were looking elsewhere.  
"We are in the east wing. On this side" he pointed the left with his forearm "is the river. You know there is a river, right ?" he asked seeing the surprised look on Damen’s face. There was no point in lying.  
"No I didn’t know. I’ve never came to this side, never needed to."  
Laurent made an annoyed sound.  
"Well there is a river. We are walking toward the south but there is a long way until the end of the building this was, and nothing really to win there. We’ll have to turn at some point. The men start the chase from the north wing, so that’s why you and are we walking south. I guess that, by now, they are everywhere. Which is a problem. We can’t predict where we can encounter some and they have the number’s superiority."  
"No kidding"  
Laurent’s eyes threw daggers to him. He continued, ignoring his intervention.  
"Going west would mean going back to the school, and since you’re a student they probably expect you to do so, to go back to known territory. Which you would have done if you had any idea of where you are. Of course you don’t. But they don’t know that, so that’s our advantage. Sort of. You wouldn’t even know where direction you were heading, would you ?"  
Damen growled. Laurent was indeed beautiful, but he was a very annoying person.  
"I didn’t find any window and do I look like someone who carries a compass ?"  
"I don’t know. But you don’t look like someone who is carrying the Philosopher’s Stone but here we are."  
As Damen didn’t answer, he continued. "We need to find a way out, and our best chances will be by the river. We need to find ways to get down to the ground by the river shore."  
"The stairs I used to get up are not an option. They’re far, they’re probably watched by them and they don’t provide any exit for several floors."  
"I came from the roof through a balcony. This is not an option either."  
Laurent furrowed his brows for a few seconds, thinking.  
"I guess we have little choice but to continue south until we find a way out."  
He obviously didn’t like it.  
They almost go caught once. A very angry and violent looking man and a few of his followers saw them at the other end of a corridor. The brute said something that started with "You ! I’m going to…" And Damen was content with not hearing the rest. He guessed it was the one that wanted to peel his skin off. He definitely didn’t wanted to stay to find out.  
They managed to lose them for a while, but not long enough. Coming from a side came Handsome, Angry and his acolytes from the other. They were trapped. Their only hope was that the door they were about to open didn’t lead to yet another empty room. A tiny hope.  
Laurent reacted more quickly than Damen thought was possible. In a matter of seconds, he was behind Handsome and pressing a blade on his throat. Using human shields was not honorable, but Damen didn’t protest : they were running out of options. It stopped Angry and the others for a few moments, Handsome very still in Laurent’s arms. Damen opened the door. It indeed lead to an empty room, but this one had an open balcony. Better than nothing, they’ll have to make it work. They quickly entered and closed the door behind them, Damen pushing furnitures against it to make it hold just a little longer. When he turned he saw that Laurent had Handsome at his feet. He got dizzy at the idea that Laurent killed him, but there was no blood on the blade. He just knocked him out. It was not Handsome’s day. They heard the men outside trying to force their way in, and rushed at the balcony.  
It was very high. And it lead directly in the rushing river at the bottom. No river shore on the building side. If they even survived the fall, the salvation would be far, on the other side of the fast flowing water. It was risky. It could lead to their death.  
But at least Laurent’s secret would be safe.  
And they may never catch the Philospher’s Stone this way.  
In a distant part of his mind, Damen wondered if the stone would magically return to its ghostly guardian if it got lost in the river. His thoughts were interrupted by a soft voice.  
"I’m not that good of a swimmer."  
He turned his head to Laurent. Fear was there on his face. Discreet, but there.  
Damen grabbed Laurent’s hand in his, pulling to demand his attention.  
Wide eyes fixed on his.  
"I am."  
It was a huge leap of faith he was asking Laurent, he was aware of it. But they didn’t have a choice.  
Laurent nodded once. Damen started counting.  
One.  
Two.  
"Three" whispered Laurent.  
And then they jumped.  
It was a terribly long fall, he heard Laurent screaming next to him, their hands hold tightly together, and his own screaming.  
When they finally reached the water, the impact was harder than he ever experienced. He wondered if it broke some of his bones, but he didn’t have time to think anything else because the flow was quickly forcing him with it. He felt Laurent squirming through his hand, looking for the surface to get air. He was going in the wrong direction, so Damen lead them both up, long enough to suck a hard breath, before being swallowed by the water once again. In the rushing water it took them a long time to finally get out, on the other side of the river, far on the right from the balcony they jumped from. They saw the men chasing them on the balcony, looking murderous.  
Out of breath, Laurent laughed anyway and waved at them, mocking.  
This guy was going to get killed one day, and no one would wonder why.  
Damen got back on his back, fighting to catch his breath.  
"You know, that's too bad" he said to Laurent. "I think you knocked out the nicest one." Lauren't breathless laughter came as an answer. When they were finally able to stand on their feet, they walked side by side, far from the river and its treacherous waters, through the beginning of a forest.  
Heading east.

**Author's Note:**

> No, it doesn't have a proper ending. What can I say ? I just woke up. I'm as frustrated as you.  
> For all of those who will tell me "you can't possibly have remembered all of that from a dream" (I had that reaction plenty of time) I will answer that I totally did, and in only around two and a half hours of sleep. ANd if you don't believe me, think about it : do you REALLY think I could have just imagined it ?  
> Hope you enjoyed anyway. If someone does the dream interpretation thing and want to tell me how fucked up I am, please go on !  
> <3


End file.
